The Missouri legislature met its constitutional deadline on Friday and passed a $53.1 billion state budget, though not without a controversial exclusion of hundreds of millions in capital improvements.
The budget does fully fund the state’s K-12 public school foundation formula as well as the state’s school transportation obligation.
It also includes $50 million towards the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program, which allows families to get funding to send their children to the school of their choice, including private schools.
However, one budget bill did not make it out of the legislature, effectively killing it for this session.
House Bill 19 contained hundreds of millions for capital improvements across the state, including $55 million in upgrades to the Missouri State Fair and $48 million towards the construction of a 200-bed mental health hospital.
House Budget Chair Dirk Deaton, R-Seneca, said he did not bring the bill up for consideration because he felt the budget had grown too large, especially with general revenue spending.
“We had many things in there that we thought were good and worthy of doing, and would have liked to have seen done, But considering what we spent in the operating, just felt like we couldn't move forward at this time,” Deaton said.
House Democrats were unaware the bill wouldn’t be brought up for a vote.
Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, is the top Democrat on the House budget committee. She said she was caught by surprise by the move.
“I can't imagine that a lot of the majority party is walking out of the building today feeling proud that they just gutted their own projects. And I'm sure that was a difficult position for them to be in, but they should have said something,” Fogle said.
She also said she would have acted differently in the conference committees on the budget had she known the bill was not going to pass.
“I would have tried to fund items in different House bills. I like to make history, but this isn't the kind of history I'm proud to make,” Fogle said.
Senate Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, said it was unfortunate that the House did not pass the legislation.
“These are projects all over the state that are impactful to people back at home. These are infrastructure projects in northwest Missouri, these are higher education, workforce development-type projects in the bootheel,” Hough said.
Hough also wishes Deaton would have communicated more on the issue after spending days together this week on the budget.
“It's not like there wasn't an opportunity at some point along the way to say, ‘Hey, Mr. Chairman over here in the Senate, we've got an issue with this project or that project,’ and so I hate that that didn't happen,” Hough said.
Because the budget deadline was 6 p.m. Friday, House Bill 19 is effectively dead for this session which ends in a week.
One option for the bill to be reconsidered would be during a special session. Both the legislature or Gov. Mike Kehoe could call for such a session.
Deaton said he would welcome those conversations if Kehoe were to call a special session.
“Certainly happy to have that conversation if the governor felt it necessary and would certainly look favorably upon that as well,” Deaton said. “We just have to be careful, obviously, with the amount of general revenue we're spending going forward.”
Hough said the actions by the House on Senate Bill 19 could make a difference in the final week of session.
“I would not want to be a House bill in the Senate next week,” Hough said.
Both the Senate and House spent the bulk of Friday passing a series of compromise bills that make up the operating budget and two additional bills that include spending for different capital improvements as well as projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act.
The operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year costs about $49.8 billion, with roughly $15 billion of that coming from general revenue.
One of the longest debates between the chambers was how much money should go towards the state’s K-12 foundation formula.
Kehoe and the House asked for an amount that ultimately fell roughly $300 million short of fully funding the formula. The Senate had restored that funding in their version of the budget.
Ultimately, the final budget does include the full funding for the formula.
The Senate also restored federal dollars that go towards childcare subsidies, which was originally a request from Kehoe. The House initially removed those dollars over concerns of funding in future years.
Another Kehoe request that was fully restored in the final budget concerns pay raises for state employees.
Kehoe requested a 1% raise for every two years of state employment up to 20 years. The House had reduced that to 1% raises for every two years up to 10 years. The final budget restores Kehoe’s original request.
One disagreement that went the House’s way was the $50 million towards the Empowerment Scholarship Account program.
The account is funded by private donors, who then receive tax credits from the state.
Democrats, including Rep. Stephanie Hein, D-Springfield, expressed concern over the legislature using public dollars to go towards private schools.
“It's a slippery slope that I'm not comfortable participating in, but it is the reality of where we are, and I think we would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge that this is a big change for how the state is operating and how we view education,” Hein said.
Rep. Bishop Davidson, R-Republic, said he believes this money towards the Empowerment Scholarship Account program will benefit Missouri families.
“I think for the first time, we're putting forward a government program that isn't eroding that responsibility that those parents have to look after their children and to be the primary educators, it is charging them with that responsibility,” Davidson said.
Beyond education, the upcoming budget also includes tens of millions for infrastructure projects across the state, including $20 million in additional funding for rural and low volume roads.
The budget also includes tens of millions for public safety, transportation and other initiatives surrounding the World Cup in Kansas City in 2026.
